Heavy Rain Expected To Hit The GTA Around Rush Hour
Posted May 28, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The rain in your lane can be a real pain. Get ready for another day of possible drenching downpours in the GTA – and some of them could come right in time for your drive home.
Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement warning parts of the city could be hit with major deluges around the afternoon rush hour. And while it won’t necessarily last long the warning is about the possible intensity of the storm, with as much as 20-40 millimetres said to be possible in a single hour.
While CityNews meteorologist Adam Stiles doesn’t disagree that we’ll get hit with rain, he differs on the amount. The government forecasters have issued the rain caveat for a wide area, but Adam thinks any truly heavy weather will be isolated in nature. And you may only be caught in dangerous driving conditions if you’re unlucky enough to get into one of the isolated thunderstorm cells expected in parts of the city.
Northern areas of the GTA could get hit the hardest but wherever you are, if that much falls in that short a time, police warn almost no road has the drainage capability of dealing it, raising the real risk of flooding. If you can’t see while navigating in a driving rain, police are advising you pull off to the shoulder or into a nearby parking lot or rest area until it finally passes.
It’s all thanks to that ongoing low pressure system that created heavy rains throughout much of the day on Wednesday. At least 16 mm fell at Pearson International Airport, a bit under the nearly 30 mm we were expecting. But for those caught in the super soaker, it was enough.
Those spring showers closed the ramp from southbound Kipling to the westbound Gardiner around 4am due to flooding. The same issue also caused troubles on the QEW at the West Mall, closing the ramp there for a time.
The system has been very slow to move away and will finally be gone by Friday, when we’ll return to sunshine setting up a mostly sunny weekend.
But Thursday’s soggy streets may not be the only bad commute you may have this week. Friday’s roadblocks will be manmade and create problems in the downtown core. Find out what to expect here.
